Strange Godling
by shadowell
Summary: After a strange new demigod arrived at camp, some demigods were sent to Hogwarts to search for... something. No one knows what they're supposed to find. But it seems like the new demigod is hiding something...
1. Appearance

**Strange Godling**

I

**Nico**

It happened at midnight. None of us noticed her. No one found her, until the following morning, when one of the Demeter children had woken up early to tend to the flowers before there are any pranksters. The Demeter child spotted her and started screaming about a dead girl on the top of the hill next to Thalia's pine. In less than 30 seconds, there were people streaming out of the cabins, trying to see what the heck is happening that's so important that they have to be awakened at 6 in the morning.

I also trudged out of my cabin into the light, yawning, watching some Apollo kids carry the unconscious, maybe dead, girl into the infirmary. Most people had trailed back into their beds after seeing the new girl; she must be a demigod to be able to pass the camp borders.

Usually, I wouldn't care less about new campers, but this time, I just felt like I have to meet her, like I have to see how she looks like.

_ 'Don't be stupid,'_ the self-conscious part of my mind snapped at me. _'Who cares about a new camper as long as she's not your half-sister or something!'_

But before I could change my mind, my feet had already led me into the room where she laid.

She was pretty, with pale porcelain skin and long, curly, dark lashes. Her long, wavy black hair was spread on the pillow, making her look like she's in the water, her hair floating around her head. Her fingers were long and skinny and very nimble-looking and she was so skinny I swear her ankle is about as thick as my wrist and I'm pretty skinny for my age, too. In fact, she seems so skinny that it's as if she would break even if she stands. But then her looks were slightly ruined to the fact that there are various cuts and injuries on her and her clothes were in tatters. Her hair was tangled and her arm is in a cast.

She looks so familiar.

I was thinking so hard about where I might've seen her before that I didn't even notice when she woke and sat up, staring at me.

"Hello," she said quietly, making me jump.

"Oh, um, hi. I didn't realize you were awake," I mumbled real intelligently before stumbling out the room, leaving her looking rather amused.

I said to the first person I bumped into, "She's awake," and went back to my nice, comfy cabin. I sat down on my bed and started thinking again, long and hard, about where I might've seen her before.

But then I was interrupted _again_ when somebody knocked and opened the door. Will Solace poked his head in, "The new girl says she wants to see you."

So I followed him into the infirmary and sat down onto the chair next to her bed, again.

"So you're Nico? Nico Di Angelo?" her voice was soft and sweet.

"Yes."

"I'm Nicole."

"Nicole-what?" I asked and saw her stiffen slightly. Maybe she's like Thalia and doesn't like using her last name.

"I don't have one," she said quietly. "I never had one."

"Sorry I asked," I muttered.

"So, can you tell me where I am?" she said, trying to change the conversation. So I explained to her about the camp, the gods, and some people, what you do, etc. She listened so quietly and attentively that once, while I was explaining, I paused, thinking that I'm talking to myself, which is the first sign of insanity. Then I remembered that she was here and I continued.

When I'm finished, she nodded slowly and suddenly said, "I want to take a bath," and she stood up, only to fall forward. Good thing I caught her just in time. Falling on your broken arm doesn't help it heal.

I carried her to the bathroom when I suddenly remembered. "Oh, right, I forgot about the ambrosia and nectar!" and I shadow-traveled away to fetch it. When I came back, she was sitting on the toilet, looking slightly sleepy but after she drank the nectar, she perked up again and told me to get out of the room so she can shower.

So I went back to my cabin and tried to rest.

o0o

Later in the afternoon, I saw Annabeth leading Nicole, being introduced around camp.

When they reached my cabin, I heard her say, "So this is where Nico lives." She said it like a statement, not a question. But how did she know? I never told her, did I?

"Yup, he's the only son of Hades," Annabeth said and they moved on.

At dinner time, I sat alone in the Hades table, when somebody slid onto the bench next to me. I looked to see Nicole beside me, smiling.

"You're not supposed to be here."

"No."

"You're supposed to be in Hermes table."

"I know."

"So why are you here?"

"I just want to say hi. I'll leave now, if it makes you feel uncomfortable." Strangely, she doesn't sound upset or hurt and she just walked back to the crowded Hermes table.

After scraping a part of my food into the fire as a burnt offering for the gods, and finishing my food, I went back to my cabin for a good night's sleep.


	2. Challenge

II

**Nico**

That night, soft singing outside my cabin awakened me. When I opened the door a crack (the Hades cabin doesn't have windows), I saw a girl in a long, flow-y white dress and dark hair 'floating' towards the woods. She looked like a ghost.

I wanted to follow her but she had disappeared into the woods and I am not risking my life to go into the woods at midnight.

When I plopped down onto my bed, I suddenly realized something: that girl was Nicole.

o0o

The next day I was awakened by somebody knocking on my cabin door.

"Come in," I grumbled and Nicole stepped in.

She looked around for a really long time and finally said, "Nice place."

"Right," I yawned.

"All nice and gloomy and dark; reminds me of the time…" she trailed off.

For a second I wondered what my cabin reminded her of but then Nicole grabbed my collar and pulled me up. It was then did I notice that her eyes were completely black, like mine when I'm summoning undead armies and such but her's are pure naturally, completely black. I was so distracted by the dark deepness of her eyes that I didn't realize that she was talking to me.

"You slept in today. It's already 11, and you're supposed to be showing me around today."

"Didn't Annabeth show you around yesterday?"

"Yes but then she had a few problems to solve so I had to stay in the super crowded Hermes cabin."

"Nice."

"It's not nice! And then somebody- I think its Connor Stoll- told me that training starts at 11:30 and _you're supposed to take me!_ And now it's-" she took out a necklace from under her CHB T-shirt and glanced at it; apparently it's a tiny clock "11:10! Get yourself out of bed, Nico Di Angelo!" she grabbed the front of my pajamas and literally dragged me out of my bed.

"Owww…" I got up slowly. How is this girl so strong? And there I was, thinking that she's so skinny she'll break when she stands up.

I quickly got dressed and brushed my teeth. When I stepped out of the bathroom, Nicole took one look at me and stormed past me into the bathroom and came out with a hairbrush. She threw it at me and I managed to catch it just before it hits me in the eye, which reminded me of the time when Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our camp oracle threw a blue plastic hairbrush that hit Kronos' eye.

Slowly, reluctantly, I tried to comb my hair down but it just wouldn't go down. Who knew why hair can be so stubborn?

When most of my hair isn't sticking up, Nicole threw the hairbrush back into the bathroom with such force I'm sure she cracked the mirror, grabbed my hand and ran out.

"No, the training area is that way!"

Nicole swore in a language that I didn't recognize, though it sounded suspiciously like Chinese, and ran, still dragging me, towards the other direction. Hell, this girl is strong.

"Turn right, turn right!" I shouted at her. I'm pretty sure most of the camp is staring and laughing at us by now.

Nicole turned and finally, we got there. She checked her tiny clock. "Good, 11: 28. We're not late!"

She was hardly panting.

Just then, a familiar voice shouted, "Gather round, new campers! I'll be instructing you today so don't be a brat!"

It was Percy and when Nicole turned and saw him, I heard her murmur, "Percy Jackson, short for Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon and head counselor of Cabin 3…" and she started naming all his titles. Gods know how she memorized all that; Percy has a LOT of titles.

When she finished naming all his titles, she smiled sweetly at me. "Thanks for bringing me here, Nico. Please go eat something; you're a bit too skinny." Then she turned and headed towards Percy.

_ 'Right,'_ I thought, _'says the girl whose ankle is about as thick as my wrists,' _and I shadow-traveled back to my cabin.

o0o

I realized I forgot to ask Nicole about last night so I decided to ask her later.

After gulping down a piece of toast and a glass of milk, I decided to go practice sword-fighting.

As I impaled and beheaded straw dummy after straw dummy, sweat trickling down my forehead, I thought of last night. Was it really Nicole? It could be anyone, maybe a wood nymph. But wood nymphs don't really leave their trees at night and they don't seem to glow in the dark. That girl looked familiar and unfamiliar at the same time and that song she was singing… what is it? It was obviously a different language and I've never heard it before. Who is it exactly?

When all the dummies were beheaded or shish-kebabbed, I headed back to the cabins to change and go to lunch.

At lunch, I saw Nicole laughing and chatting with the Hermes kids. She seemed to be having a good time, which is good.

After lunch, I decided to go back to my cabin to rest. But when I opened the door, I was surprised by none other than Nicole.

Not only that, she was at the doorway, pointing a sword at me.

She smiled coldly. "I challenge you," she whispered. "Fight me at the training area."


	3. Death

III

**Nico**

The sword-fight was going fine until I accidentally killed her. Just before we started, she told me, "No magic since I don't have any powers," so it's only swords.

I was really startled, to the fact that she just only went through one training session and hasn't even found a well-balanced sword yet. She also said to use real swords.

When we faced each other, me with my black Stygian iron sword and her with a simple celestial bronze sword, I couldn't help noticing how calm she looks. She was no longer smiling and has put on this serious expression but her body was relaxed, like she was used to challenging someone who has a hundred times more experience and training than she does.

And then she attacked.

She was fast and unusually skilled for a camper that had only one training session, but I was faster and I managed to graze her arm. She ignored it and just kept attacking as I blocked and parried.

How can this girl be so good? She was new, after all.

We sparred and a crowd began to gather around us. Most stayed silent, watching in fascination and a little surprise while others, such as the Ares cabin is whooping and cheering and screaming at us.

Nicole has several cuts here and there and she had managed to make a small cut on my thigh.

But then, she died.

I was just defending that time, when both of us attacked at the same time, slashing out. Our swords clanged together and I blocked another attack from Nicole. Then I lashed out and Nicole tried to block me but failed.

Failed miserably.

So miserably that she died.

My sword had stabbed through her stomach and came out the other side.

Everyone's eyes widened simultaneously, except for Nicole's; she just stayed expressionless.

Nicole staggered back a few steps, her sword clattering to the ground. She stared at the sword with a little surprise and then slowly, she raised her head.

I expected her to curse me and vow to haunt me, but she didn't. Instead, she did the unexpected.

She smiled. She smiled that warm smile one last time before sliding to the ground in her pool of blood.

Nicole had died.

o0o

The crowd that was watching Nicole and I fight collapsed in chaos. Apollo campers surged forward to Nicole; Aphrodite kids and some Demeter children started screaming bloody murder, running back to their cabins and other campers were shouting at me, "What do you think you were doing, Nico!" The only cabin that looked happy was the Ares cabin, obviously.

They were whooping and cheering, screaming, "Corpse Breath won!" Some actually slapped me on the back, but I didn't really notice. I was in shocked + dazed mode.

Percy pushed them aside and planted himself in front of me, grabbing the front of my shirt and snarling, "What do you think you're doing, Di Angelo?" but I was too stunned and shocked out of my mind to answer him.

Did I just kill Nicole? The New camper? How is that possible? But one look at the crowds sending me fearful glances told me: Nicole is dead and I had killed her.

I staggered towards Nicole, trying to get past the crowds, but some people pushed me back. They thought I was dangerous.

Suddenly, people nearest to Nicole's corpse started screaming. Campers tried to push out of the crowd and everybody started running away, except for me. I can't see what was happening.

But I didn't need to wait for long to see because whoever saw Nicole just screamed and ran and soon the crowd had dispersed and I saw what everyone was screaming about.

It was Nicole. The shadows were surrounding her, creeping up her body and holding her up like a person holding a rag doll. Her head lolled from side to side as the shadows crawled up unsteadily towards her wound, where my sword still sticks out from. When it reached her wound, the sword was slowly pushed out of her stomach and the shadows covered the wound for some time.

Then, it suddenly retreated and the impossible happened: Nicole's eyes snapped open.

o0o

She staggered a few steps forward and straightened up and picked up the two fallen swords, throwing mine back to me. She was smiling. A creepy smile that was mixed between amusement, coldness, and cruelty, making her look slightly insane. Who knows? Maybe she is.

"Let us continue, Nico Di Angelo, the fight has only just started!"

But this time, she didn't attack. Instead, she stabbed the sword into the ground and whispered, "Serve me."

Though she whispered, her voice echoed around camp and cracks appeared on the ground, skeleton hands clawing up towards the light. Soon, an army of skeletons stood before me, ready to battle.

I realized that I wouldn't be able to fight all these skeletons and so just like Nicole, I called upon my own army of dead soldiers.

The two armies clashed while Nicole and I clashed. It has become a war.

We battled, our two undead armies fighting an endless fight. Broken bones mended itself and both of us began sweating and panting really hard.

Finally, using the trick that Luke taught Percy on his first lesson and Percy taught me on my first lesson, my sword caught the hilt of her sword and I twisted, disarming her and pointing my sword at her neck.

"Dead," I declared.

She smiled. "You win," and the skeletons behind us crumbled to bones, the earth swallowing them up.

Suddenly, I realized something. "Wait a second… you just… do that mean… are you..?" I stammered.

She laughed. "Yes, you are correct, Nico. I am a daughter of Hades, your half sister."


	4. Underworld

IV

**Nico**

"My- wait, are you serious? How long did you know? And did you just- just…" I stuttered, my eyes wide with shock.

"Yes, yes, of course I'm serious! And I only found out about 3 minutes ago, when you killed me."

"So you admit that you just… reincarnated? How did you do that?"

When I asked that, she turned away. I heard her murmur, "Once you cheat death once, it becomes easier and easier to do it, till it becomes part of your consciousness."

"What do you mean?"

She spun around, suddenly looking very angry. "What do you think I mean? How do you think I survived all this time? My mom died when I was three and I've been alone ever since! I was supposed to die with her, but I escaped and the Mist covered me up completely because everyone thinks I'm dead! Only the monsters know that I'm still there and they're the only ones that will pay attention to me!"

"I steal for food and clothes and I go to school secretly. Everyone thinks me as a ghost! And then I overheard Travis and Connor at the store while they were shoplifting about a demigod camp and so I followed them here! In the middle though, I was attacked by a bit too many monsters so I just managed to get past the camp borders in the middle of the night." She took a deep breath and stormed away, leaving a very dazed me in the middle of the training area.

o0o

The next two days, no one saw Nicole. She just never showed up again after she stormed off that day and people were starting to get worried.

Everyone knew that she was my half-sister by now and some kids from the Hermes cabin had dumped all her stuff, which is only a backpack, into my cabin.

Then, finally, she returned. While we were eating dinner, she emerged from the forest.

She didn't look like how we expected her to look- torn clothes, tangled hair, dirty… No, in fact, she was the complete opposite.

Her long dark hair is neatly combed and cascaded down her back in steady waves. She was wearing an orange camp T-shirt and a white ankle-length skirt and she was barefooted. There was no mud on her, not even a little bit.

She slid down next to me and regarded me with her cold, dark, blank eyes. Her eyes are always blank, I realized. Her lashes were so long it completely blocked off the light from reaching her eyes. It's like a dark curtain is covering her eyes, which is why her eyes always look blank and cold. She would smile and her whole face would light up and become warm but her eyes remains cold and blank, making you wonder if she can really feel emotions like other humans.

Sometimes, in moments like this, she doesn't even look like a human. She looks more like a god, or maybe a ghost. It depends.

She narrowed her eyes. "Do you have an extra bed in you cabin?"

"Of course I do."

"Good, I'm going to rest." She said and picked up two pieces of toast. She threw one into the fire and went towards the cabins.

While she was there, the whole dining pavilion had been silent but the moment she left, a buzz rose from the tables.

"How did she appear like that?"

"Why is she so clean when she just reappeared from the forest?"

I quickly stuffed the rest of my dinner into my mouth and went back to my cabin. There, I found Nicole, fast asleep in the other bed across the room from mine. Her breathing was so shallow and silent that you would've thought that she was dead.

Which she's supposed to be.

o0o

The next day, she was back to her normal happy self and it's hard to believe that she ever stormed off and disappeared before. She trained and was already able to climb to the top of the rock climbing wall that shoots lava without trouble.

She learns fast.

A bit too fast.

Sometimes, we would just stay in our cabin and she'd tell me how it was like for her before she came here to Camp Half-Blood.

I learned that she would sleep in other people's homes since they can't see her anyways and they'd think their house is haunted. She began to teach herself to fight at the age of five and before that, whenever she met a monster, she would run as fast as she can (which isn't fast, to the fact that she was four) and maybe be eaten. Then she'd reincarnate and the cycle starts all over again.

She told me what happened when I accidently killed her. She had arrived in Father's palace, not the big lobby where Charon is. She was confused and slightly scared, since she had become rather good 'friends' with Charon. Then, Hades appeared in front of her and told her that she's his child. Simple as that.

That time, she told me, she just stared at Hades until he got annoyed and she reincarnated.

In other words, I had another sister.

o0o

**Annabeth**

Percy and I were holding hands and taking a little stroll down at the beach when suddenly, something—no, someone-slammed into us. The person staggered backwards, falling down, and I realized it was Nicole.

She blinked up at us and smiled. "Hello, Percy, Annabeth! Nico's teaching me how to shadow-travel and well, I'm not going where I should be." Then she turned around muttering, "He told me to meet him in the woods and now I landed here. Should I try to shadow-travel over there?" and she was about to shadow-travel away when Percy grabbed her shoulder.

"Nicole, can I ask-" and she shadow-traveled away.

WITH Percy grabbing her shoulder and me grabbing Percy's hand, and all 3 of us were plunged into darkness.

o0o

We arrived at the least expected and one of my least favorite places- the Underworld.

For a second, Nicole looked confused. Then she realized where she was and turned to look at us with wide eyes. "Oh, I'm so sorry-" but she was cut off when somebody slammed into her. After the other person stood up, I realized it was Nico. After brushing dust off his clothes, he noticed Nicole.

"Where have you been? I couldn't find you anywhere! Did you accidently shadow-travel somewhere else?" he looked around. "Why are we here and why is Percy and Annabeth with you?"

"Too much questions, Nico. And keep in mind that I know fewer things than you."

"You're here because I need you to do something for me."

All four of us spun around to see Hades standing there, regarding us with cold eyes.

"And why do you need us?" Percy asked slowly and cautiously.

"It's simple. To find something that I need." At that, he seemed to be communicating through eye contact with Nicole and Nicole gave one small nod, like she knows what he's talking about. Which I have a feeling that she does.

I wondered what they were telling each other about and even Nico was looking at his father and half sister back and forth with a confused expression.

Then, Hades waved his hand and trunks appeared in front of us. "Well, off you go then," and he disappeared.

We gawked at the place where he was standing just a moment before.

"Where exactly are we supposed to go?" Nico asked.

"I'll shadow-travel there, since it seems like only I know," Nicole motioned us to grab her which we did, though a little uncertainly since she doesn't really seem like she's completely gotten the hang of shadow-travelling yet. Then, once again, we were plunged into darkness.


	5. IM

V

**Nico**

"Where are we?" Percy asked the moment we stepped out of the shadows.

"The Leaky Cauldron."

"And that is…?"

Nicole thought for a moment. "A Binn, you could say."

"A Binn?"

"It's a bar plus an inn, so Binn."

"And where is this place? What are we doing here? We weren't even able to say goodbye to our friends yet!"

Nicole sighed. "Well, this place is here, in other words, London, so we're in England. And we're here to go… somewhere."

"Where is that somewhere?"

Taking a deep breath, Nicole said in a small voice, "A school."

The three of us immediately started swearing.

"A school? What if we blew it up?"

"It's dangerous! Especially for those innocent mortals!"

"And what about our ADHD and Dyslexia?"

"SHUT UP!" Nicole shouted before looking around to make sure people aren't staring.

"It's doesn't matter. I doubt we would blow up this school; it's special. And I really doubt you actually killed some people while blowing up the school, did you?"

Then in a small voice, she added, "Unlike me."

"You actually killed someone when accidentally blowing up a school?" Annabeth asked, her eyes wide.

Nicole scowled. "Yes. 3 students and a teacher died."

"Are you THAT good at blowing up schools?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Well, it IS an accident and the teacher wouldn't have died if he hadn't tried to save the 3 kids!"

"And why wouldn't he try to save the poor kids?"

"The kids were trapped in the 4th floor, there were no hope of saving them! Even the firefighters gave up! Would you try something that is absolutely impossible? Like, challenging Zeus perhaps?"

"HAVE YOU NO HUMAN EMOTIONS AT ALL?"Annabeth screamed at Nicole.

For a second, Nicole's eyes widened and then she growled, "No," and ran out the inn door.

"Nicole!" I called after her. When she didn't come back, I glared at Annabeth before going to search for Nicole.

o0o

**Nicole**

After running out the 'Binn', I shadow-traveled to the roof of the Leaky Cauldron, where I rested, out of sight, watching the sun sink into the horizon.

Emotions. What is it? What are the feelings that humans always talk about? How can you possibly feel anything from the inside?

I tried to remember whether or not I've felt anything from the inside before.

A flash of memory crossed my mind. A memory of a warm feeling and another of a terrible pain that seems to be eating me inside out.

Are those feelings?

Suddenly, an IM appeared next to me. I noticed but didn't bother to look who it was. I only need to hear whatever whoever that person is wants to say.

"Hello? Nicole? Are you listening?" a proud female voice asked me from the IM.

"I'm always listening," I replied quietly.

"Well? Are you guys there?"

"Yes, Bella. No need to worry."

"I'm not worrying."

"Of course not."

"What has gotten to you, Nicole? You seem to be in a bad mood."

I sighed and at last, looked at the IM. All I saw was a person wearing a black cloak, the hood covering her face.

"What are emotions, Bella?"

"Nicole," Bella said, sounding exasperated. "How many times have you asked that? Don't ask me. I'm not much better than you."

I sighed again. "None of us are perfect."

"Yes. We're incomplete dolls."

"You told me, Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma."

Bella tensed under the cloak. "Don't say that, _Phantom_. You're making me feel old."

I stood up and mock-bowed, smirking. "That is my job, Bella. To remind you how old you are." And I swiped my hand through the IM.

"I better be getting back," I told myself. "They could be worried." And then silently, I added, '_Whatever that is_.'

o0o

**Nico**

I ran back to the Leaky Cauldron. Percy and Annabeth were already there.

"Did you guys find her?" I panted. Both shook their heads.

"Where could she be?" I asked myself.

"Missing me?" a voice sounded behind us and we spun around.

"Nicole! Where were you?"

"On the roof."

"Why?"

"To calm down, obviously," Nicole rolled her eyes. "Let's go get a few rooms and I'll tell you more about what we're doing here."

After booking a few rooms, we sat down on the bed of Nicole's room. Nicole cleared her throat.

"Ok, as you guys might have noticed, people here are a bit…queer." I thought back at while I was searching for Nicole, all the people were wearing weird robe things and some of them were waving sticks around.

"Those are wizards. Yes, they are real and no, they don't know about us demigods."

"So now, Father sent us here to find something. It should be located in the school for wizards and witches and we are to find and give it to Father, whatever it is."

"So what is it?" Annabeth asked.

Nicole glared at her before saying, "I have no idea." Apparently she hasn't completely forgiven Annabeth about the fight yet.

"Then how are we supposed to find it if we don't know what it is?"

"Well, Father said we'd know when we see it."

"Great," Percy grumbled.

"So we're supposed to go to this school and find this thing?" I asked. Nicole nodded.

"Sweet, it's easy!"

Nicole shook her head. "No, I doubt it'd be so easy. Or else Father wouldn't send all four of us. And I remember something else, an evil wizard, what's his name? Moldyfarts, no, Mouldywarts, no, Voldywart, no, no, no… Right! Voldemort!"

All of us snorted. "Voldemort? What kind of name is that?"

"His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. If you see him, you'll recognize him."

"How does he look like?"

"No nose, pale skin, red eyes. Easy enough to identify."

We sniggered at the mental image in our minds.

"So…" I started, "What is the school called?"

Nicole frowned. "Pigfarts? No…"

"Why does everything relate to 'fart'?" I heard Percy whisper to Annabeth and she chuckled.

"Pigwarts? It has something to do with pig! I swear! It's on the tip of my tongue!" Nicole sound exasperated.

"Why do I have terrible memories…" she muttered and tried another series of names, most of which we can't help sniggering at.

Finally, she jumped up in triumph. "Hogwarts!"

"Like, the pig skin disease?" Annabeth asked uncertainly.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Wow."

"Well, since we're going to a school, we'll have to fit in and buy supplies. Don't tell anyone you're a demigod, by the way!"

"But we don't have money," I pointed out.

"Or do we?" Nicole took a bag from her pocket and shook it. I could hear the jingle of coins inside it.

She started towards the door.

"Well? Let's go shopping!"


	6. Shopping

VI

**Nico**

I never liked shopping.

Not now, not ever.

But this time, I have to say, is a pretty good experience. Why? Because it's not like shopping with the Aphrodite children, where everything is make-up, clothes, or perfume.

I asked Nicole how we'd know what to buy. She said we don't, but we'll manage. So now we're wandering in Diagon Alley, staring at shops and people and feeling very, very lost.

Then, finally, slowly, we made progress. We first entered a place where they sold pets. There were owls, cats, rats and toads, trapped in cages everywhere and the smell certainly wasn't pleasant.

When Annabeth saw all the owls trapped in cages, she scowled. When the owls saw her, they all threw themselves against their cages to try to get to her. None succeeded, of course, except for one. A grey owl with feathers that matches the color of her eyes was bought by her. After managing to stop the owl from ripping us into shreds, we left the pet-shop.

Next up was books. This was Annabeth's heaven, as she circled the shelves and shelves of books, examining basically everything. Nicole was also examining the shelves while Percy and I were standing awkwardly by the side, shifting from foot to foot, unable to wait till we can leave. But the girls forced us to stay.

"You know I have terrible ADHD!" Percy whined. The girls just ignored him.

Finally, FINALLY, they finished with the books, we paid, and carrying gigantic lumps of books, we left this hellhole.

"I think I got all your textbooks," Nicole said, checking the books. "And Annabeth got a bunch of extra books."

"Can we get some ice-cream?"Percy asked, eyeing the ice-cream stand greedily. "I'm hungry." That's when I realized how hungry I was. "Me too," I admitted.

"Well, ice-cream won't help your hunger, as I've learned the hard way, so after we get our-ahem-school uniforms and magic sticks, we'll go back to the Leaky Cauldron and I'll get you something," Nicole said, walking briskly down the street towards another shop. We followed with Percy and me grumbling behind the two girls.

We stopped in front of another shop and Nicole squinted at the sign. "I think this is where we get our-ahem-uniforms," she pushed open the door.

When we got in, immediately, we all exclaimed in perfect unison, "You call this uniforms?!" She just shrugged.

A woman hurried up to us. "Hogwarts?" she asked kindly us and Nicole nodded. The lady began to measure her height and stuff. Then, I realized that Percy, Annabeth, and I were also being measured. The measuring tapes were measuring us by themselves!

Percy was staring at the measuring tape with his mouth hanging open while Annabeth just stared at the measuring tape zoom around her in awe and fascination.

In about one to two hours, we got our-ahem-uniforms, and finally headed out, towards our last stop- our wands, or magic sticks, as Nicole seemed to prefer to call them. Percy was moaning for food and reminded me of Grover when he's unconscious.

Abruptly, Annabeth asked Nicole, "Why do you always go barefoot?"

I looked and sure enough, Nicole was shoeless.

We stopped in front of another shop and once again, Nicole squinted up at the sign, unconsciously toeing the cobblestones. "I just don't like shoes," she answered, "Makes me feel trapped. I'm more comfortable this way." And she entered the shop.

Inside, were rows and rows of shelves, filled with shoeboxes. Percy looked confused. "You just told us you don't like shoes and now you're coming here to buy shoes?" Nicole rolled her eyes and muttered, "Kelp Head," before calling out, "Hello? Anyone home?"

"This isn't a home is it?" I frowned as an old man appeared from behind a shelf and asked, "Buying wands?"

"Yup," and once again, measuring tapes that's measuring us by themselves zoomed around us, while the old man searched the shoeboxes, which I bet actually held wands, not shoes.

When the tape was done measuring and crumpled to the floor, the old man-Ollivander, I think his name is-came out from behind a shelf, holding a box which he handed to Annabeth. "Try this, 13 inches long, nice and supple, made of olive wood and a single feather of a barn owl as the core."

Annabeth took it gingerly, as if it might break in her hands and the moment she held onto it, sparks flew out the end and there seemed to be a slight glow around her. When the glow died down, she nodded, smiling and pocketed the wand.

Ollivander clapped his hands. "Well, that was easy! Next…"

He took out another box from a shelf and handed it to Percy. "Here, try this. 15 and a half inches long, springy, made of pine wood and the hair of a mermaid."

Percy took it, but nothing happened. Ollivander snatched it away from him. "Well, not this, not this… Try this," and he handed another box to Percy. Once again, nothing happened. One by one, Ollivander made Percy try a bunch of wands and the weird thing is, the more wands Percy tried, the happier he seems. Finally, Ollivander handed him a wand. "14 inches long, wood from a palm tree, willowy and able to bend. The core of the hair of a Pegasus." And just like Annabeth, when he held the wand, he looked almost like a… god, glowing and everything.

Then, Ollivander turned to me with a box in his hand. "14 inches long, hard, the wood of a poplar tree and the hair of a hellhound as the core."

I took it but nothing happened. Just like Percy, I kept trying wands and the more I try, the happier Ollivander seemed. Then, "13 and half inches long, springy. Wood of a poplar tree and the core of a single hair from the three-headed dog, Cerberus."

When I took it, warmth flooded from the wand into me and I felt so light and free. It was the best feeling ever, but it was gone soon. When I woke from my slight trance, I saw that Ollivander is already trying to find a wand fit for Nicole.

After a lot, a lot of trying, even more than Percy and I, Ollivander took out a box. "Here, try this. Like your brother's, it's made of poplar tree. 12 inches long, springy, with a strip of cloth of a Dementor."

Nicole took it and the temperature of the shop dropped remarkably. "Quite powerful," she murmured as a dark glow wrapped around her.

"Yes," Ollivander agreed with her. "Very powerful."

We left the wand shop with our wands in our pockets and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. Percy was basically howling for food.

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Shut up Percy, I'll get y'all some food."

o0o

It turned out that Nicole was an excellent cook. She snuck us into the kitchen and started working. Soon, the table was piled with plates and we were enjoying ourselves greatly. Later, Nicole sat down and ate with us and even though we were in a place with people wearing bathrobes and the fact that we were living magnets to monsters and trouble, I actually felt like a normal person, and I'm sure the others felt that way too.

Tomorrow, we leave for Hogwarts.


	7. Train

**Hello! Sorry for not updating... but I'm really lazy, you see, and this chapter is kinda long. Also, I don't own anything in this story except Nicole, who is, unfortunately, owned by me. Anyways, read and review, peeps and enjoy! If you didn't enjoy, at least pretend you did...**

VII

**Nico**

I was awakened by Nicole who had woken up earlier than most people in the world.

She barged into my room and flung the covers off of me.

"Five more minutes," I moaned.

She made a _tsk-tsk_ sound and shook her head. "You're becoming like Percy."

"Well, I _am_ a growing boy here," I sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "Just like Percy."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes. "You better be dressed and ready in 15 minutes. I need to go help Annabeth wake Percy up."

"Good luck with that," I yawned, looking around for a shirt.

I quickly dressed and brushed my teeth, not bothering to comb my hair. Then, I changed my mind and pulled the comb through my hair.

Though Nicole is still full of mysteries, I think she'll force me to look good in order to make a good _first impression_. I mean, who cares about that anymore?

_'Old people?'_ my mind replied.

_'Oh shut up. She can't be older than _you_, can she?'_ I thought back irritably.

Then suddenly, I heard Percy shout, "THE BLUE PANCAKES ARE MINE, YOU SON OF A GORGON!" and I smirked. I left my room and went into Percy's, to find him and Nicole having a glaring contest.

"I'm a girl, _Shrimpy_," Nicole snarled back at him.

"Well, you sound mighty like a boy now, don't you? Snarling like that," Percy shot back.

The room temperature dropped a few degrees. "Well," Nicole huffed, still glaring at Percy, "remember that _I'm_ the one making you breakfast and I have the power to take it away, so unless you want to go to Platform ¾ with an empty stomach, you better not mess with me."

Percy yelped, "No!" and scrambled away to get dressed while Nicole spun around and stalked out while I followed her to the kitchen.

The kitchen was empty. "Hey."

"Good morning, Nico," she replied while flipping pancakes. "Glad to hear you listened to me and got ready quickly." She looked up. "Oh, and you combed your hair!"

I tried not to roll my eyes. This girl reminds me of a grandmother sometimes (a.k.a. Demeter).

"Yeah. By the way, why is the kitchen always empty?"

"Empty?" she frowned. "What are you talking about? It's never empty! When we leave, somebody else takes our place in the kitchen!"

"Well, where are they?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You're stupid, you know. They're of course," she walked to the biggest cupboard and a bad feeling started spreading in my chest, "here."

She opened the cupboard and there were two men, which I bet is the cooks, obviously knocked out, stowed away.

"Seriously?"

"Yup. After we're done, I'll wake them up," and she continued flipping pancakes.

Percy and Annabeth came in. Percy was sniffing the air. "What's that smell? I believe it's… FOOD!"

"Right," Nicole said with a bright smile and Percy beamed back like a five year old. It was hard to believe they were death-glaring each other only a few minutes ago.

Setting down the plate full of pancakes, she said, "Dig in."

And we dug in till the plates were licked clean. Not literally, but you get it. Percy did most of the work but still.

We didn't have much to pack so we decided to wander around a bit before we leave for Platform ¾ at 2 in the afternoon.

o0o

Time passed too quickly. It was already 2 and Nicole was checking if we have everything. Apparently we did because she grabbed us and shadow-traveled to a train station.

Platform 9… Platform 10…

"There's no Platform ¾," Percy stated the obvious.

Nicole frowned. "That's weird. It said very clearly on the ticket…"

Annabeth leaned against a brick wall. "Are you sure you-" but she never finished her sentence because she had suddenly _fell through_ the wall with a yelp and disappeared.

The rest of us snickered. "Ok, Annie. You can come out now," Percy called at the brick wall. Some people passing us gave him weird looks.

When she didn't reappear, he started to look worried. "Uh, Annabeth? Come out, it's not funny."

Percy put a hand on the wall she fell through and pushed and just like the Daughter of Athena, fell through the wall and disappeared.

Nicole and I exchanged glances and both of us ran towards the wall. _Please don't let us crash_, I prayed silently as we neared the wall. Just as we were about to hit, we emerged from the other side. Percy and Annabeth were there, staring at the train in awe. Sure, it's a great magnificent lump of scarlet metal and it looks really comfy but it's really nothing to stare at.

"Well," Nicole was already walking briskly towards the train, "we should find an empty compartment." Percy and Annabeth just nodded and we followed Nicole inside.

We're one of the earlier people to get onto the train so finding an empty compartment wasn't hard. What was hard, though, was waiting for the train to start moving. We complained so much in the end that Nicole brought out a few different types of board games from her backpack.

"You bring all of this?" Annabeth asked as we looked over the Monopoly, chess, etc.

"You should always be prepared," Nicole replied with a shrug. Then she curled up in her seat and fell asleep while the rest of us played board games. No, it's _bored_ games. It didn't help pass the time at all.

When Nicole woke up from her 5 minute nap and started slaughtering Percy in chess, our compartment door opened. A girl with straggly, waist-length, dirty-blonde hair and protuberant eyes came in. "May I sit here?" she asked in a dreamy voice but before any of us replied, she sat down in the seat nearest to the door, pulled out a magazine, and flipping it upside down, started reading.

We resumed our not-so-entertaining entertainments, though we were more careful about what we put in our conversations. Otherwise, we just talk in Greek.

FINALLY, finally, the train started moving. Nicole packed up the board games back into her bag, which I think has an extension charm or something. At least that's what she said.

After a while, our compartment door opened again. This time, a group of people stood outside our door. A boy with a round face with one hand on a weird looking plant and another on a struggling toad, a girl with bright red hair and another boy with messy, black hair, emerald green eyes, and round glasses stepped in. From behind the black haired guy's bangs, I could see the faint outline of a scar shaped like a lightning bolt.

_Is he related to Zeus?_ I asked myself. When Nicole saw Scarface, her eyes narrowed.

"Hello," the redhead girl said with a British accent. "Can we sit here? Everywhere else is full."

We all nodded and they sat down. "I'm Ginny Weasley, by the way," she said. "That's Neville Longbottom," Ginny Weasley pointed at the round faced boy while Percy snickered softly at the weird name, "and that's Harry Potter." She pointed at Scarface.

She paused, as if waiting for a reaction while Harry seemed relieved for some reason.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Don't you know Harry Potter? The boy who lived?"

Percy shrugged. "Well, I'm alive, ain't I? And I've been through- OOF!" Annabeth had elbowed him in the stomach.

After a brief introduction, we resumed to our conversations. Then Percy and Annabeth started arguing, Nicole started staring out the window and I decided to listen to the wizards' conversation. Apparently they were talking about the plant Roundface- I'm sorry, Neville Longbottom- was holding.

"Does it… er… do anything?" Harry was asking.

"Loads of stuff," Neville replied proudly. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism- hold Trevor for me…" Neville handed Harry his toad.

He took out a quill, chose a spot, and prepared to poke it. "Wait!" Nicole cried, but it was too late. He gave the plant a sharp prod and liquid squirted everywhere. Everyone was drenched. Annabeth and Percy froze in the middle of their argument, Luna's magazine was splattered, Harry got a face full, and Neville was completely drenched.

"Sorry," he stuttered, then adding hastily, "It's not poisonous," as Harry spat out a mouthful.

Nicole grimaced in disgust. She had gotten the least of it since she sits farthest from Neville, but there were some on her arm and shirt and a little was caught in her hair. I wiped a glob off my face, which made things worse since my hands aren't exactly clean.

The compartment door opened.

_Arg! How many times does the door have to open? Can't people just leave us alone?_ I thought, slightly annoyed.

A very pretty girl stood at the doorway. "Hi, Harry… um, bad time?" You could almost see Harry's blush from under the goo.

"Hey," Harry replied weakly.

"Um… Well… just thought I'd say hello… bye, then," and the girl left. He slumped down in his seat, no longer trying to get the stuff off his face.

Percy leaned forward and patted him on the back. "Its fine, man. Everyone gets embarrassing moments."

Wow, did Percy just say something that doesn't sound dumb?

Nicole stood up. "Of course. It could be easily fixed." She took out her wand. "_Scourgify!_" the goo disappeared.

Annabeth eyes were wide. "Wow…" she breathed. Then in Greek she whispered, "That's magic? Please don't tell me you've already read and memorized all the books!"

Nicole shrugged and replied, also in Greek, "Well, when I was invisible and sneaks into school, I always go to high school, sometimes even a college classroom."

I raised an eyebrow while Annabeth looked confused and I remembered that Nicole hadn't told Annabeth about her past.

Once again, the compartment door opened and a red haired boy that looks like Ginny and a girl with crazy curly brown hair came in. The boy immediately slumped down onto the seats, groaning.

He grabbed a chocolate frog from the pile of sweets that we had bought. "I'm starving," he said, stuffing the chocolate frog into his mouth.

"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," the girl with curly brown hair said, looking disgruntled. "Boy and girl from each."

"And who do you think Slytherin's is?" Redhead boy said.

Harry groaned. "Malfoy."

"'Course," Redhead took another chocolate frog.

"And that complete _cow_ Pansy Parkinson," Crazy-curls said viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll…"

I heard Nicole snort and everyone turned to look at her. She just smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that just reminded me of what I heard this girl in the school I used to go to say once. She said, 'I'll will troll you out the window. Get it? Gods, it was stupid… Troll means to trick, by the way."

Crazy-curls seemed to notice us for the first time. "Hello, I haven't seen you guys before. I'm Hermione Granger and that's Ronald Weasley," she pointed at the redhead boy. "But call him Ron."

"That's Percy Jackson…" Nicole introduced. Percy waved.

"Annabeth Chase…" Annabeth nodded.

"Nico di Angelo…" I just gave them a cold look and saw them shudder.

"And I'm Nicole." The wizards paused, as if waiting for something.

"Nicole…?" Hermione asked. Nicole shook her head.

"di Angelo," Percy suddenly said. "Nicole di Angelo."

"WHAT?!" Nicole yelped. "I'm not… not…"

Percy shrugged. "Well, your Nico's sister and you don't know your own last name, so now you're a di Angelo."

"Can I kill you now, Perseus Jackson?"

Percy smirked. "No."

Nicole grumbled something under her breath that sounded like, 'Damn that piece of kelp to hell.'

The wizards continued with their own conversations while Annabeth and I try to stop Nicole from killing Percy. At least _that_ helps passes time.

The compartment door opened _again_. This time, a pale boy with white blonde hair and just-as-pale eyes stood in front of our compartment door. Behind him stood two gorillas in the Hogwart's uniforms. It took me a minute to realize that those when actually two big, fat, lumbering boys, not spoiled gorillas.

"What?" Harry asked aggressively before the blondie could even open his mouth. Seems like Harry doesn't like him.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," Blondie drawled. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," Harry said, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Everyone sniggered. Blondie's lips curled.

"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he smirked.

But before anyone replied, Nicole stood up. "What's your name?" she asked softly and coldly, her eyes narrowed.

"Draco Malfoy," Blondie, no, Draco Malfoy, was still smirking.

"Well, Drakon Mouthfoul, I suggest you to get out right now. You don't want us as your enemies." Nicole took one slightly threatening step forward. Malfoy's smirk wavered.

"You don't want _me_ as your enemy," he spat at her. "I will tell my Father!"

Nicole laughed. Not the warm soft kind she usually does, but high and cold and cruel. "And who said our parents aren't more powerful than yours?"

Malfoy's smirk had vanished completely. "My Father will hear about this, I assure you!" he squeaked.

The room temperature quickly dropped to below zero. "You will do no such thing, Dorko Malefoil," Nicole replied coolly and she slammed the compartment door shut. Not before punching him in the stomach, of course. The room temperature went back to normal and Nicole returned to her seat by the window.

"Well, that's settled," she sighed.

The wizards just gawked at her. "What?" she asked them, irritated. "I'm not something in a museum for you to stare at! And close your mouths, ridiculous humans; you'll catch flies! Though the expressions on your faces are hilarious…"

Then Ron just said in an awestruck voice, "You're now my new hero."

She blushed. "Go away, Ray Wheezing."

After that, the wizards began to tell us about Hogwarts and we pretended to understand everything they're saying. At least it passed time pretty fast because very soon, Hermione suddenly stood up. "We're almost there, we should change into our uniforms now," and left the compartment to change.

"Why do they give us bathrobes as uniforms anyways?" I grumbled after we're finished changing.

"Maybe because they're creative and Hogwarts gives a lot of homework?" Nicole suggested. We stared at her and she shrugged. "Well, if they give us a lot of homework, then we'll be up late and since our uniforms are bathrobes, we can go straight into shower and then straight into bed."

Percy shook his head. "That actually kinda made sense."

The train began to slow. "Well," Hermione announced. "Seems like we're here!"


	8. Sorted

VIII

**Nico**

When Annabeth saw the Hogwarts castle, she went insane. I have to say, I'm really glad Nicole stuffed some earphones and an Ipod into her bag. And since it's made by the Hephaestus cabin, it still works here in Hogwarts.

"This place really is amazing," Nicole said, glancing up at the tall towers.

"Holy Hades," muttered Percy.

As for Annabeth, she's pouring out years of knowledge and research about architecture from her brain.

"Eh," I shrugged. "Not bad."

The others stared at me in shock. "Not bad?"

I just shrugged again and they shrugged back at me in reply.

Embarrassingly, we had to go with the first years _across the lake_. Nicole looked calm, but on the boat, I swear I broke a few fingers and the other two could barely hold in their laughter at my expression. I wish I had a mirror.

When we finally got to the other side, I was considering kissing the ground but quickly dismissed the thought. I don't want people staring at me. Then a door opened and a stern looking woman came out and started saying something, which I completely tuned out.

The stern woman, whom I learned from Nicole is Professor McGonagall, came at us. Nicole nodded once at her and she instructed us, "Stay here till you hear your names called," and herded the first years into the Great Hall.

"Always fun to be ditched," Percy said.

We peeked into the Great Hall and saw an old, dirty, patched hat sitting on a stool. What are we supposed to do with a hat? Pull a rabbit out of it? Then, to our great surprise, a rip opened on the hat and it started singing.

_In times of old when I was new_

_And Hogwarts barely started_

_The founders of our noble school_

_Though never to be parted:_

_United by a common goal,_

_They had the selfsame yearning,_

_To make the world's best magic school_

_And pass along their learning._

_"Together we will build and teach!"_

_The four good friends decided_

_And never did they dream that they_

_Might someday be divided,_

_For were there such friends anywhere_

_As Slytherin and Gryffindor?_

_Unless it was the second pair_

_Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?_

_So how could it have gone so wrong?_

_How could such friendship fail?_

_Why, I was there and so can tell_

_The whole sad, sorry tale._

_Said slytherin, "We'll teach just those_

_Whose ancestry is purest."_

_Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose_

_Intelligence is surest."_

_Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those_

_With brave deeds to their name,"_

_Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,_

_And treat them just the same."_

_These differences caused little strife_

_When first they came to light,_

_For each of the four founders had_

_A House in which they might_

_Take only those they wanted, so,_

_For instance, Slytherin_

_Took only pure-blood wizards_

_Or great cunning, just like him,_

_And only those of sharpest mind_

_Were taught by Ravenclaw_

_While the bravest and the boldest_

_Went to daring Gryffindor._

_Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,_

_And taught them all she knew,_

_Thus the Houses and their founders_

_Retained friendships firm and true._

_So Hogwarts worked in harmony_

_For several happy years,_

_But then discord crept among us_

_Feeding on our faults and fears._

_The Houses that, like pillars four,_

_Had once held up our school,_

_Now turned upon each other and,_

_Divided, sought to rule._

_And for a while it seemed the school_

_Must meet an early end,_

_What with dueling and with fighting_

_And the clash of friend on friend_

_And at last there came a morning_

_When old Slytherin departed_

_And though the fighting then died out_

_He left us quite downhearted._

_And never since the founders four_

_Were whittled down to three_

_Have the Houses been united_

_As they once were meant to be._

_And now the Sorting Hat is here_

_And you all know the score:_

_I sort you into Houses_

_Because that is what I'm for,_

_But this year I'll go further,_

_Listen closely to my song:_

_Though condemned I am to split you_

_Still I worry that it's wrong,_

_Though I must fulfill my duty_

_And must quarter every year_

_Still I wonder whether sorting_

_May not bring the end I fear._

_Oh, know the perils, read the signs,_

_The warning history shows,_

_For our Hogwarts is in danger_

_From external, deadly foes_

_And we must unite inside her_

_Or we'll crumble from within_

_I have told you, I have warned you…._

_Let the Sorting now begin._

Everyone clapped but among the applause, there were muttering and whispers. Annabeth and Nicole's eyes were narrowed, looking deep in thought.

Then, the Sorting began. To my relief, we only need to wear the hat and it will sort us. After the last kid was sorted, an old man with a long white beard stood up, making some announcements about a Forbidden Forest and stuff.

As he was talking, an ugly toad woman stood up, interrupting him and starting a speech of her own. Nicole frowned as she listened (how she is able to listen to that woman, I have no idea) and started looking thoughtful again. At last, Toad woman finished her speech and Professor Dumbledore said, "Now, before we dig in, we have a small surprise! There are four more people that have to be sorted." From his pocket he took out a letter.

"I sent him that letter," Nicole whispered to us. "I wrote our cover story in it so listen closely."

The old man started reading,

"Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I am sorry to tell you that we Americans will be interfering with you British but we will be going to your school this year.

Sadly, we were kicked out of our old school back in America for blowing up the school and so we're now stuck here with you. Thankfully, we might only stay for a year.

Thank you for your cooperation and please don't be jerks.

Signed, Annabeth Chase

Percy Jackson

Nico di Angelo

Nicole"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "That's our cover story?" Nicole nodded happily. "It's half true anyways."

"Annabeth Chase," Professor McGonagall's voice called from inside the Great Hall.

I patted her on the back while Percy kissed her. "Don't die, Annabeth!" Nicole said in a much-too-cheerful tone.

She sighed, "How can I die by wearing a hat?"

Nicole shrugged. "You never know."

o0o

**Hermione**

"Annabeth Chase," Professor McGonagall called and the pretty blonde stepped in. Boys swooned and went dreamy-eyed, looking ridiculously like Luna, but with one look, Annabeth silenced them.

She sat down, put on the hat and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally the rip opened and the Hat started to say, "Rave-" when it fell silent again with a sound that sounded suspiciously like a yelp. Then, it screamed, "Gryffindor!"

We cheered loudly, especially the boys. Boys.

Next was Percy Jackson. I realized Professor McGonagall was reading the names in order from the letter, which was why Nico didn't come as second. I bet Nicole would be last, since she didn't seem to have put her surname on the letter.

Percy got in Gryffindor as well. The moment he sat down, he pulled Annabeth into a kiss and the entire Great Hall deflated. Of course the hottest boy and the hottest girl will be dating; what did the others expect?

"Nico di Angelo!"

That boy really spooked me, but it turns out, he's not as bad as he seemed. As people say, don't judge a book by its cover.

He sat down and just like Annabeth, waited for a really long time. Finally, the Hat shouted, "Slytherin!" while Percy groaned.

He went to sit down at the Slytherin table, death glaring anyone who dares look at him.

"Nicole-" Professor McGonagall faltered. She must have been expecting a surname.

"di Angelo," Percy called to her.

Outside, a voice whined, "Perrrrrrrrrrrrcyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

"di Angelo," Percy assured the very confused looking Professor McGonagall.

Outside, the voice screamed, "PERSEUS JACKSON, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" while Percy grinned smugly.

Professor McGonagall sighed and said, "Nicole di Angelo."

A scream of frustration sounded outside and Percy grinned smugger than ever.

Nicole stalked in, glaring at Percy. She has her head held high and fists clenched so tightly her knuckles were white. Her pale face was flushed pink and she seemed to be trying to hide a scowl.

_I'll kill you later, Jackson_, she mouthed at Percy and he mouthed back, _Dream on_.

She put the Hat on. I can literally see her glaring at Percy from behind the fabric.

She sat for a long time, longer there than even Annabeth or Nico. Finally, she took it off and handed it back to Professor McGonagall, saying, "I think it stopped working. So I'll just go to the same house as my brother and… yeah." She was scooting towards the Slytherin table. Then she turned and ran towards Nico, settling down beside him.

"Let the feast begin!" Professor Dumbledore said.

Ron and Percy started to have a who-can-eat-the-most contest. Annabeth and I both rolled our eyes and muttered, "Boys."

Nicole was talking excitedly at Nico, who only looked slightly interested, though his sister didn't seem bothered. Then he suddenly perked up from something she said, smiled, and stood up, along with Nicole

The two Americans hurried over. A few Gryffindors glared at them but Nicole just ignored the glares and said, addressing mostly to Percy and Annabeth, "I have a wonderful idea!"

"Huh?" Percy raised his head from his gigantic plate of food. She frowned at him.

"There's spaghetti in your hair, Percy," she told him. "Anyways, Nico and I are in Slytherin, right? Well, that means we can do A LOT of bad stuff and get a bunch of House points subtracted!"

The whole Gryffindor table was staring at them now. "And they might know some stuff about-," she broke off, making me confused. About what? Percy and Annabeth nodded, as if they knew what she was talking about, which I bet they did and Annabeth started talking in another language, making me even more confused.

Aren't they American?

Finally, the two Slytherins nodded before hurrying back to their table.

I wonder what they were talking about.


	9. Classes

IX

**Nico**

During breakfast, Harry seemed especially angry and Nicole dragged me over to the Gryffindor table to chat with Percy and Annabeth in the middle of me finishing my toast. So much for fitting in with the Slytherins, which apparently, was her plan so that maybe we'll find some clues of what we're supposed to search for.

Professor McGonagall was passing out schedules and we compared ours, finding ourselves in the same classes.

"Well, this makes everything easier," Nicole said. "I'm technically supposed to be in the first or second year but it seems like they've put me with you guys so I'm in the same year with you guys."

Ron was groaning at the schedule. "Look at today! History of magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defense against the Dark Arts… Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman all in one day!"

"What's so bad about them?" Nicole asked.

"Well, Binns is the most boring professor you would ever have, Snape is simply a git, Trelawney is a gigantic fraud, and that Umbridge woman look simply sick!" Harry told her.

"But you never know, right?" Hermione piped up. "Maybe Professor Umbridge is a really good teacher…"

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really think so?"

Hermione shook her head slowly, looking defeated. "Well, we never know…" she pointed out weakly.

Annabeth was still observing the schedule. "Hey, I think we all have the same classes! Other than Hermione's of course but I think our classes are the same as Ron and Harry."

Nicole took Harry's schedule. "True…"

Fred and George approached us and the group of wizards started a heated conversation about O.W.L.s, which seemed to be exams that happen in the fifth year. I mentally groaned. Does that mean we'll be taking extra tests as well?

After breakfast, we followed the three best friends to History of Magic. At first, we just chatted, since the teacher haven't arrived yet. But then, he arrived, breaking us out of our cozy conversations.

When we turned our attentions to the teacher, although knowing the attention wouldn't last long since we have ADHD, Nicole's eyes widened with surprise and Percy and Annabeth looked almost as shocked and surprised as I felt.

The professor is a _ghost_.

"What-? How-?" I stammered. Harry and Ron snickered at our reactions.

"That's why he's boring," Ron said, "because he's _dead_."

"Not all the dead are boring," I heard Nicole mutter. "Eleanor Roosevelt was interesting and I'm sure Clarisse would enjoy a conversation with Alexander the Great…"

Thankfully, the wizards and witches didn't appear to hear us.

"Today, we will be talking about…" Professor Binns droned, his eyes sweeping over the classroom, freezing when he saw Nicole and I.

"about…" his mouth opened and shut, as if he was trying to talk but failing miserably. He might have screamed if I haven't shot a pointed glare at him. A few students gave us strange looks.

"Yes, professor? What are we going to talk about today? I'm sure we're not just going to sit here, are we?" Nicole asked smoothly.

"Right, er…" the ghost cleared his throat and began his droning again. Ron and Harry were right. This is the most boring class ever.

Potions.

Let's just say, it wasn't fun.

The only good thing was that the classroom was cozy, dark and cold with dim, flickering lights. Just like home.

At first, we were just chatting, but then, Snape came and the nightmare began.

He started talking about O.W.L.s and stuff like that and when we made our potions, the explosion literally shook the whole castle. Well, Percy and mine exploded. Annabeth and Nicole's are near to perfect. Having the quick instincts, the four of us had ducked when the cauldrons of potions exploded, but the rest of the class, Snape included were splattered with disgusting, green/gray substance.

After cleaning up by simply waving his wand, Percy and I received detention from Snape and we left the dungeons in quite a bad mood. At least our potions were so terrible it had absolutely no effects when it touched the students. At least no one died. Yet.

Next up, Divination. Harry and Ron led us to the attic, or the Divination classroom, which smells unpleasantly like the Aphrodite cabin.

Professor Trelawney was a woman wearing so many shawls she looks like she's in bed and has glasses that magnified her eyes at least 5 times. Her gaze sent creeps up my spine, kind of like the way the old mummy oracle had given me the creeps. Good thing Rachel's now the oracle.

We sat down around a small table.

"Good day," Professor Trelawney said in a dreamy, misty voice. "Welcome back to Divination. I have, of course, been following your fortunes most carefully over the holidays, and am delighted to see that you have all returned to Hogwarts safely- as, of course, I knew you would.

"You will find on the tables before you copies of _the Dream Oracle_, by Inigo Imago. Dream interpretation is a most important means of divining the future…"

"Well, we all have experience with that," Percy whispered. Annabeth, Nicole, and I nodded in agreement. Demigod dreams are the worst.

"Turn, please, to the introduction and read what Imago has to say on the matter of dream interpretation. Then, divide into pairs. Use _the Dream Oracle_ to interpret each other's most recent dreams. Carry on."

"Most people don't remember their dreams, don't they?" Percy muttered. Obviously, he had paired up with Annabeth, and so I paired up with Nicole.

"So… what's your most recent dream?" Nicole asked.

"As Percy said, I don't remember most of my dreams…"

"Then make one up."

"Okay fine," I thought hard. "Um… Percy was trying to drown me?"

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "We all know it's going to happen sooner or later. So… that means Percy's going to join the dark side and you will die in his hands?" she slammed the book down. "Gods, this is so annoyingly boring! If we want to know the future, just ask Rachel!"

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Annabeth joined our conversation, "we never had a prophecy for this quest."

"Maybe this isn't really a quest?" Percy suggested. We all sighed and stared at the table.

Professor Trelawney was moving from table to table, checking to see if everybody's working and on task, occasionally helping a student or two.

Then she reached our table.

"What are your dreams?" she asked dreamily.

We shrugged. She observed us through her glasses, making her look ridiculously like an owl.

None of us said anything. Professor Trelawney seemed to have frozen with shock or horror and Nicole was looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Professor?" Nicole asked, "Is something wrong?"

Professor Trelawney's mouth opened and closed a few times before, finally managing in a strangled tone,

_Four shall travel through the magically land,_

_A liar, a spy, a helping hand._

_A single soul marked by a cursed blade,_

_To bring back the dead, a choice to be made._

_A sacrifice, an exchange with the shadows,_

_An eye for an eye, a soul for a soul._

Then, she collapsed. Percy and I exchanged alarmed glances while Nicole and Annabeth stared down at a piece of parchment. Nicole had written the prophecy down.

"Seems like we got our prophecy for this quest," Percy said.

o0o

Finally, double Defense against the Dark Arts.

We hurried to the classroom because everyone was pointing and whispering at us.

"I bet I'll ace this subject," Percy said. "I could defend myself against Nico just fine."

I scowled at him.

Nicole shook her head. "I doubt you'd ever be able to ace a subject, Percy, even if you're stronger than Nico."

He pouted while I grinned. But our smiles were wiped clean from our faces when we entered the classroom. And saw the professor.

Our eyes widened considerably when we saw her toad-like face. Our mouths dropped open at the sight of her disgusting, pink, cardigan. Our mouths snapped shut and we bit our lips, trying not to laugh as we eyed the black bow on her head. One word: toad.

As quickly as we can, without looking like we're hurrying, we rushed to our seats and looked at the toad in disgust.

When she started class, none of us listened except for following her directions of putting away our wands and taking out our books. Instead of reading, though, we played Hangman and Tic-Tac-Toe on the margins of our textbooks. However halfway through the class, Hermione raised her hand.

"Did you want to ask about the chapter, dear?" Professor Umbridge asked in her disgusting, sweet voice.

"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione.

"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her small pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.

The toad raised her eyebrows. "And your name is…?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," said the Professor.

"Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly. "There's nothing written up there about _using_ defensive spells."

Nicole's hand shot into the air but was ignored by the professor.

"_Using_ defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to _use_ a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron ejaculated loudly.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr…?"

"Weasley," said Ron, thrusting his hand into the air.

Professor Umbridge, smiling widely, ignored him and turned to Nicole. Behind her, Harry and Hermione's hands also raised their hands.

"Miss di Angelo?"

Nicole let out a huff before saying, "Two things, professor. One, my last name is absolutely not di Angelo. Two, can you read the course aims out loud. We," she gestured at the four of us, "can't read."

"If your last name isn't di Angelo, what is it?" Toad asked back, making Nicole hesitate.

"It's complicated, you see, professor. I'm Nico's sister-"

"And his name is di Angelo. So yours must be it. Now, you said you can't read?"

Nicole pursed her lips before nodding slowly. "We," she said, pointing at the four of us, "can't read, because we have dyslexia."

Umbridge laughed softly. "How can you possibly not be able to read? Everyone can read!"

"Well, professor, if you weren't listening, I did say we have dyslexia."

"Don't think I'll treat you guys special because you have this dyslexia, dears."

"For your information, dyslexia is a common disease in the muggle world," Annabeth piped up. "So if you didn't know it, that means the muggles are more advanced than you."

"Which I agree," Nicole said, twirling a quill. "I mean, who uses quills anymore?" she took out a piece of parchment, "and parchment. I mean, there are something called a pen," she grabbed Riptide from Percy's pocket, "and paper." From her own pocket, she produced a piece of tissue paper.

Professor Umbridge looked offended, she huffed angrily before turning away from them, much to the girls' displeasure, and picking on Hermione.

"Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

"Yes," said Hermione. "Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" Professor Umbridge asked sweetly.

"No, but-"

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and clever than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way-"

"What use is that?" said Harry loudly. "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a-"

"_Hand_, Mr. Potter!" sand Professor Umbridge.

Harry thrust his hand into the air, but was promptly ignored by Umbridge. However, there are now several other people who also had their hands up.

"Your name?" Professor Umbridge asked this dark skinned boy named Dean Thomas.

"Dean Thomas."

"Well, Mr. Thomas?"

"Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?" said Dean. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free-"

"I repeat," said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very disgusting fashion, "do you expect to be attacked during my classes?"

"No, but-"

Professor Umbridge talked over him. "I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," she said, an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, "but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed- not to mention," she gave a little laugh, "extremely dangerous half-breeds."

"But half-breeds might not necessarily be dangerous, right?" Nicole pointed out.

"Hand, Miss di Angelo!"

Nicole ignored her, not even correcting her about her name. "I mean, if you're half horse, a centaur, how much damage can you do? And even though you're half horse, you still have a human part in you."

"If you mean Professor Lupin," piped up Dean Thomas angrily, "he was the best we ever-"

"Hand, Mr. Thomas! As I was saying- you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group, and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day-"

"No we haven't," Hermione said, "we just-"

_ "Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!"_

Hermione put her hand up but Professor Umbridge turned away. "It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you-"

"Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?" said Dean Thomas hotly. "Mind you, we still learned loads-"

"_Your hand in not up, Mr. Thomas!_" trilled Professor Umbridge.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "Whoever their former professor for this subject is, he sounds interesting."

"Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is? She added, staring at Parvati Patil, whose hand had just shot up.

"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense against the Dark Arts O.W.L.? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the countercurses and things?"

"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said the professor dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them before?" said Parvati incredulously. "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?"

"DAMN IT WOMAN!" Annabeth and Nicole both shot up from their seats and glared angrily at the toad. "WE'RE GONNA FAIL OUR EXAMS BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Surprisingly, no one took any notice to them. They were all too angry at the toad to care.

"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" said Harry loudly, his fist in the air.

The room was silent.

"This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world," she said softly.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?"

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter."

The four of us demigods shook our heads, sharing one same thought: _That stupid, ignorant woman._

"Oh yeah?" said Harry, looking angrier and angrier by the moment.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" inquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.

"Hmm, let's think…" Harry said in a mock thoughtful voice, "maybe, perhaps_, Lord Voldemort_?"

Ron gasped; Lavender Brown uttered a small scream; Neville slipped off his stool. Professor Umbridge, however, didn't even flinch. She was staring at Harry with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter."

The classroom was, once again, silent. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Harry.

"Now, let me make a few things quite plain." Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered hands played on her desk. "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead-"

"He wasn't dead," Harry said angrily while Annabeth, Percy, and I exchanged confused glances, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr.-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-House-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," said Professor Umbridge in one breath. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. _This is a lie_."

Once again, Annabeth, Percy, and I exchanged confused glances but this time, Nicole noticed us and mouthed, '_Voldemort_.'

"It is NOT a lie!" said Harry. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" said Professor Umbridge triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from an Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me ourside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am you friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginner.'"

Professor Umbridge sat down behind the desk. Harry, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at him.

"Harry, no!" Hermione whispering in a warning voice, trying to tug him down but Harry jerked away.

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry asked, his voice shaking. I saw Nicole's eyes narrow.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.

Nicole stood up. "And what proof of that is there?" she asked, her voice soft and calm. "Cedric Diggory was murdered. It seems like last year, at the end of the Triwizard tournament, Harry was found holding Cedric's dead body. Apparently, Cedric had died from the death curse, Avada Kedavra. The only other person with him was Harry, so are you saying Harry accidently casted the spell and killed Cedric?"

Professor Umbridge's face was blank. Then she said, "Detention, Miss di Angelo. Same time and place as Mr. Potter."

Nicole stared defiantly back, her chin raised proudly and her bag already packed, clutched tightly in her hands. "I thank you for the generous offer to visit your _horrid_ office, but I shall politely decline. I am a busy person," and she stormed out the room. Though of course, not before aiming a kick at Umbridge, which should leave a decent bruise.

o0o

After class, we found Nicole wandering the halls. We caught up with her.

"Wow, that was an impressive scene," Percy grinned.

She smiled softly. "Thanks."

Annabeth, however, looked serious. "Nicole, about that Cedric Diggory, how did you know all that?"

Nicole turned to her, her face completely blank and stared at her for a while, before turning back and smiling lightly. "I have a talent of finding out things whenever I want to."

Her eyes turned even colder, if that's even possible. "And I assure you, you do not want to know how."


	10. Dreams

IX

**Hermione**

Two weeks of school had passed without much more drama. The American students were able to remember where the classrooms are now and Nicole and Annabeth are getting really good grades so far. I'm not too sure about the boys， though.

Then, I saw Nicole go into the Forbidden Forest.

That time, it was midnight, and I had just awakened from a rather unpleasant dream about failing all my classes. So I decided to get a breath of fresh air.

I walked to the window in my dormitory, opened it, and looked down the tall tower, seeing the lake, the forest, Hagrid's hut and his pumpkin patch. And a single figure walking towards the Forbidden Forest. With a jolt, I realized it was Nicole, dressed in a white nightgown that seems to glow in the dark.

Nicole was strolling slowly so with luck, I might be able to catch up with her before she disappears into the forest.

I ran into the boys' dormitory, grabbed Harry's invisibility cloak as quietly and quickly as I could, and hurried out the castle.

Just in time, I saw Nicole vanish into the forest.

Quietly, I followed her into the darkness, stopping when she stepped into a clearing. She stood there, as if waiting for someone.

Then, from the other side of the clearing, a cloaked figure stepped out from the shadows. "I see you came," it said in a cool, proud female voice.

"Of course," Nicole's voice was monotone.

"Well, I see you've gone past the stores and things rather well. And you've earned their trust." I could see the faintly smirking though most of her face was hidden under the shadows of her cloak.

"That was simple," Nicole said, her voice slightly colder.

"And you have rather good acting skills."

Nicole just smirked.

"You're staying healthy and not doing anything dangerous?" the woman asked in mock caring.

Nicole's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you haven't called me here just to chat, I believe, Bella."

The woman smiled lightly. "No, of course not, my dear. I'm here to remind you of what you're supposed to do."

"I know what I'm supposed to do."

"Are you sure you're able to complete the task?"

"Yes, Bella," Nicole smiled. "I can kill anything more human than me."

"So when are you planning to kill the boy?"

"When I completely have their trust. And he's near the bottom of the list, there is time."

"Are you sure? Time's running up."

"I'm sure, Bella," Nicole ran her tongue over her lips, smiling, as if she just ate something particularly tasty. "He will be my last kill."

Bella disappeared and reappeared behind Nicole with a loud crack. Nicole didn't even flinch, just kept looking straight in front.

Bella put a hand on Nicole's shoulders and whispered beside her ear, "And remember, _Phantom_, remember well. _An eye for an eye, a soul for a soul_."

At that sentence, I spun around and ran, into the boys' dormitory to drop off the invisibility cloak and dove right into my bed. I played the conversation over in my head.

_Bella._ Where have I heard that name?

Then, I remembered. Grimmauld Place Number 12. There is the family tree on the wall. On the family tree, there was a woman named Bellatrix Lestrange, who had escaped from Azkaban.

Bellatrix Lestrange, A.K.A. Bella.

_ That traitor._

o0o

Another few days passed and Nicole was the same as before. Everyone liked her because she was so nice, even though she's in Slytherin.

I tried my best to act normal around her as well, though there were a few close shaves.

Then, one day, when Harry, Ron, and the Americans went to Divination while I headed towards Arithmancy, I discovered I forgot my textbook, so I hurried back to my dormitory to grab it.

Rummaging around my trunk, I couldn't find it. Could it be on my bed? I was reading it last night. So I drew open the curtains around my four poster bed. And froze.

Sitting in the middle of my bed was a girl, with her legs crossed and my Arithmancy textbook in her lap as she read it slowly.

At the sound of the curtains being pulled open, she looked up. The girl is Nicole.

"Looking for this?" she asked with a slight smile and tossed me the textbook, which I just managed to catch.

"How did you get in here?" I demanded.

"Oh, it's easy, really. You Gryffindors literally scream the password at the Fat Lady."

"Then, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you, of course," she smile stretched slightly wider.

"What do you want," I clutched my textbook to my chest with my eyes narrowed at her, trying to ignore the nervousness and fear. What if she found out I spied on her? What if she kills me?

"I just want to say two sentences," she leaned forward as if she's about to tell an important secret.

"Curiosity kills the cat, Hermione," she whispered. _"And you're the cat."_

Then, she was gone, leaving me staring at the place where she last was, my textbook had slid from my hands and landed on the ground with a _thud_, my heart was thumping loudly, and with growing fear I realized: If I breathe even one word about the conversation between her and Bella, she's going to kill me.

Just like she's going to kill Harry.

o0o

I didn't leave the dormitory after that. Just laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling. At some point, Annabeth came to check on me and I told her that I felt sick and I want to be left alone. She left after that.

When night finally came, I managed to fall into uneasy sleep.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up abruptly, gasping for breath. The moon is bright tonight and I gazed out the window at the night sky full of stars, since I find that comforting. And I froze all over.

Sitting on the windowsill was a girl. Her long, wavy black hair seem to blend with the shadows, her pale skin seem to glow under the moonlight. She was wearing a white nightgown splattered with dark stains. Blood.

She raised her head and smiled widely at me. Her face was also splattered with blood and there were even blood on her perfect white teeth.

She put one long finger to her lips, silencing me. I looked around at the beds around me, and opened my mouth to scream. Nothing came out though. Around me, on their beds was my classmates, all of them dead, even Annabeth. I turned numbly to the girl.

"Nicole…" I choked out.

She lifted her other hand and this time, I couldn't even open my mouth to scream. I was paralyzed with fear and horror. In her hand, was a heart. The heart was still pulsing slightly in her hand and my hands shot up to cover my mouth as a wave of nausea hit me…

My eyes snapped open. Slowly, painfully, I sat up, my eyes staring into my trembling hands. My forehead was beaded with sweat, my pajamas were damp, and my hands were cold and clammy. I was afraid to look out the window.

I buried my face into my hands and whispered to myself, "It's just a dream, it's just a dream…"

The moon is bright tonight and the sky filled to the brim with stars. If I'm lucky, there may even be a shooting star…

Unconsciously, I looked out the window. And froze.

Sitting on the windowsill was a girl. Her long, wavy black hair seem to blend with the shadows, her pale skin seem to glow under the moonlight. She was wearing a white nightgown that billowed in the breeze.

Her black eyes bored into my brown ones as she raised a long skinny finger to her lips and smiled sweetly. I couldn't help feeling relieved by seeing no blood on her dress, face, or teeth. But then, my heart once again seized when she lifted her other hand.

But there's no heart in her hand, just a dagger. Just a dagger that's still dripping blood. Then, she threw it at me. It didn't hit me, well, not really, just nicked my hand before it fell onto my lap and sank into the shadows. I stared at the girl.

She smiled angelically before jumping out from the windowsill. Somehow, I knew, she didn't fall to her death. Which means, sooner or later, I'll have to face her again.

**Please Review!**


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